White Stripes, "We're Going To Be Friends" Every now and again, a record breaks through into mainstream attention that surprises me. I would not have bet on the ascetic blues rock revivalists the White Stripes being anybody who would get mainstream...
Big Black, "I Can Be Killed" From the first Big Black release, Lungs (later collected on The Hammer Party), this was all done entirely by Steve Albini. After this EP, Albini was able to put together an actual band, and the Big Black...
Prince, "All The Critics Love U In New York" Somehow, 23 years before their first record, Prince laid a pretty savage burn on LCD Soundsystem. Jawbox, "Meathook" Jawbox put together a comp, My Scrapbook Of Fatal Accidents, which gathered together most...
Autoclave, "Bulls Eye" Before Mary Timony formed the brilliant Helium (and Wild Flag and Ex Hex!), she was in Autoclave, who put out a couple of EPs for Dischord Records which were later collected on a single comp. It's an interesting...
Clinic, "Voodoo Wop" Imagine having the confidence to open an album this way. A distant, chilly vibe, acutal ocean noises, a complete change a minute in in both mood and sound, no vocals until the last five seconds. Just bonkers. It was a...